If there is one accounting task you should not skip, it is completing your bank account reconciliation. When you perform this important task, you ensure bank transactions match those in your accounting records. This critical step can identify fraud, flag bank errors and highlight mistakes; ultimately leading to more accurate accounting records and financial information.
Segregation of duties, or separating conflicting duty assignments in your government, can help protect your local government's assets. But which duties do you segregate, and what are your options if you cannot feasibly do this? What if you are a very small entity with limited resources?
If your school is experiencing budget shortfalls, it’s crucial to know which funding sources are appropriate to use—and which are not. School districts have various types of revenue, some of which are restricted to certain purposes. These include federal grant awards, levy or bond proceeds and even Associated Student Body (ASB) money. It’s important that districts do not use these funds for general budget purposes.
Whether from yearbook sales, prom tickets or direct donations, the money raised by Associated Student Body (ASB) groups are public funds.
Most governments own a variety of assets that they track and inventory, beyond what they do for financial reporting purposes. We call them small and attractive assets here in Washington state, but across the nation, people refer to them as theft-sensitive assets, walk-away assets or controlled assets.
How long has it been since your government evaluated its credit card program? Was it when we published our original best practice resource in July 2019, just before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic?
Imagine you just bought a home, but you don’t like the kitchen because it’s outdated. Since this is potentially your “forever home,” it makes sense to update the kitchen so you can enjoy it for years to come. In a similar situation, a local government keeps its capital asset records for years – sometimes decades – so why not take the time to improve them? Like the kitchen, the investment in improving your capital asset management system is worth it because you can reap the long-term benefits.
Employees are on the road again, traveling to various in-person trainings and conferences. Given this, one cannot help but wonder about the internal control systems for processing employee reimbursements and travel claims. Are they ready to handle this activity and prevent waste, loss or abuse?
Originally published January 12, 2024
Updated April 24, 2025
This blog post was originally published in January 2024, but we've recently updated the Checklist for 2025 reporting year. You can find the new Checklist in SAO’s Resource Library. We've also updated the links in this post for your convenience.
What’s new?
As we performed federal single audits this year, a common issue arose – a lack of compliance with federal wage rate requirements. Much of the issue stems from local governments that managed federally funded construction projects for the first time but did not provide enough training to their staff on federal wage rate requirements.